NEW YORK
Newsday
Updated May 12, 2017
By Joye Brown joye.brown@newsday.com
Early on, in his decade and a half as Suffolk’s district attorney, Thomas Spota earned a reputation as a reformer, and at one point, as Long Island’s most aggressive fighter of public corruption. But with his low-key — and not unexpected — announcement to staff Friday that he would not seek a fifth term, Spota will leave that office under a cloud.
“I will end the constant controversies and political vendettas that for years characterized the district attorney’s office,” Spota said during his 2002 swearing-in, after winning a decisive victory over opponent James M. Catterson Jr.
During the campaign, Spota claimed that Catterson had abused the district attorney’s office by pursuing vindictive, politically motivated prosecutions. “I envision an office that’s going to be guided not by politics but by principles,” Spota promised.
And, indeed, the new district attorney started off with a bang — impaneling grand juries to delve into allegations of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests and, later, allegations of political corruption. Spota investigated allegations of Medicaid fraud and at one point subpoenaed hundreds of thousands of documents to dig into allegations of fiscal improprieties in Suffolk school districts.
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